July 1: Quebec Day?

July 4, 2011

By Kim McConnell

Today, on CFRA, the morning shows focused on the Canada Day Celebrations on Friday, July 1^st.  Mark Sutcliffe referred to the fact that the shows were too heavy on French content with 13 of the 23 noon-time performances being from Quebec. The other provinces were barely represented: two each from Ontario, British Columbia and Alberta and one each from Manitoba and Newfoundland.  I’m missing two. 

In the evening show, of the 19 performances, 11 were from Quebec, two from Ontario, and one each from Newfoundland, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, and British Columbia. I’m missing three.  So, out of a total of 42 performances, 24 - more than half, were out of Quebec.

Lowell Green played the “nice guy” telling everyone that he enjoyed the show and that people should stop being so petty as to complain because French-language performances outnumbered the English-language ones. 

Well, did he get lambasted by callers who nearly all said that the show was a disgrace, featuring really amateurish performances and that the preponderance of French-language performances was very insensitive to the English-speaking majority.  Some even said that, instead of calling this the “Canada Day” celebrations, they should have called it the “Quebec Day” celebrations.

If you have any interest in what these many callers had to say, Lowell’s show can be heard at this link:  http://devel.autopod.ca/chum/43/podcasts/

Here is one listener who sent me a copy of the message he sent to Lowell:

Dear Mr. Green,

After listening to your show yesterday, I am utterly disgusted with you for trying to minimize and trivialize your callers’ concerns about the preponderance of French culture and language during this year’s “Canada Day” celebrations. Shame on you Mr. Green, especially considering the fact that you have the nerve to write “Mayday, Mayday” in an attempt to warn and educate Canadians about the dangers of “liberal style” multiculturalism and immigration policies! What the hell is wrong with you? I could not agree with you more about the dangers of “liberal style multiculturalism” but what I can’t understand is your minimizing and trivializing what occurred on “Canada Day” this year?!!

Don’t blame the NCC, the Conservatives are in control now and have a majority Government and if they can legislate a private sector union at Air Canada back to work in record time under the guise that it’s bad for the economy then they sure as hell could have ensured that the NCC and Heritage CANADA did a better job at making Canada day less about Quebec and more about Canada!

Even before Canada day festivities really started, Harper was speaking FRENCH FIRST while introducing the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge to Canada.  More than half of the Canada Day shows were in French and ALL the Canada day announcements were made in FRENCH FIRST!

You once said that you basically don’t know what you where thinking back in the days when you were a Liberal and supported liberal policies – well, you still don’t get it!  Why and when do you think Canada started taking a wrong turn and adopting ridiculous multicultural and immigration policies in this country?  When Trudeau introduced Official Bilingualism.

Once a country starts bending, appeasing and accommodating people then it’s the beginning of the end in terms of their heritage, national culture, identity and way of life.

Why is it that you speak out strongly (and rightly so) about Liberal style multiculturalism and immigration policies yet you are COMPLETELY silent and even supportive of Quebec?  Is it that you have a perverted sense of respect for Quebec because they defend their culture at everyone else’s expense or is it that you just don’t get it?

I hear you complain (and I agree with you) about the “left’s moral relativism” yet you suffer from this condition yourself.

Your behaviour on your show yesterday was pathetic and grossly irresponsible. Your book “Mayday, Mayday” is a waste of money as far as I am concerned because it only deals with half the problem this country is facing and you did not touch on what is irrevocably destroying this great country - excessive political correctness and pandering to minority groups at the expense of the majority of Canadians. It is, slowly but surely, ripping this country apart.

I am so disgusted by what happened on Canada day that I cancelled my Conservative party membership and cut off all party donations as this is the only way that the Conservatives will learn.

With all due respect,

Mark K. & family,

Ottawa

I too listened to Mark Sutcliffe’s broadcast this morning.  He’s a good, common sense talk show host.  I watched very little of the televised entertainment portion of the Canada Day show on the Hill.  What I did see was amateurish & for the most part just plain bad!  I  appreciate Canada’s historical connection to the UK & the Crown in general but I’m not much of a fan of specific royal family individuals.  However, I do have sympathy for William and Kate who had sit through the hour & a half of this garbage at mid day & then had to come back in the evening to sit through yet another hour of the same junk.  They reportedly sat through  this ordeal without a single grimace.  Surely it must have been a thoroughly boring experience.  Front-line royalty is, with some exceptions, generally well disciplined. And of course, keenly aware that many cameras are focused on them at all times!

I agree with the caller who proposed that the organization of a substantial part of the Canada Day events on the Hill be taken away from the NCC & placed in the hands of an independent body.  As to the French connection & the NCC  - over the years, regularly watching the local news hour on CTV/CBC,  I have never witnessed an NCC spokesperson who did not have an obvious French accent. This, and the year-after-year over representation of Quebec “entertainers” suggests a built in bias.  But then, I may have acquired a degree of the French paranoia...by osmosis.

Kip Mc.

There are also many complaints about PM Harper and his penchant for starting all his political speeches in French first.  It made sense when he was leading a minority government and Quebec was holding the lynch pin, having 75 seats under their control.  Now that he has a majority government and certainly does not need to pander to Quebec, there is NO need to carry on this charade.

We would like to start a letter-writing campaign on this aspect of Harper which should be slapped down as quickly as possible.  Anyone who would like to submit a sample letter may do so.

Kim